Resonance
by kitsune-breeze
Summary: What if the events after the Kyuubi attack happened differently how would this effect the way that things turned out. Pairings will not be decided for some time as this will be a long story. Rating may change later


I don't own Naruto in anyway if I did then Sasuke wouldn't be so overpowered and Naruto wouldn't be so lame. Anyway I guess by the way that kishi is getting intimate with Sasuke thats not going to happen.

Prologue: What if in the aftermath of Kyuubi attack things changed? How would this affect the future of Kohona and the Shinobi world.

Resonance

Chapter One

The group leapt like ghosts through the canopy on their mission, the first mission outside the village for a number of years, since the village disappeared from the face of the ninja world. The twelve's mission had two goals; the first was to retrieve the daughter of the Kage and the second was to bring back safely her newborn child. The mission itself was S – class and extremely time sensitive due to the unstoppable force that was the Kyuubi, which was currently attacking the village of Kohona, ironically where the mother and child were currently residing.

Meanwhile the village of Kohona itself was in a state of chaos, bodies littered the battlefield, while those that were able to valiantly resisted the onslaught that was the Kyuubi. The daughter of the Kage, Kushina was currently bedridden after the birth of her son, due to blood loss and fatigue. Due to her condition she was unable to aid her husband Minato in the defence of the village.

Minato knew that the battle was in a conventional sense a lost cause as the powerful jutsu's known to the hidden village had no effect on the Kyuubi, except for irritating it. Minato believed that the only way to bring a halt to the massacre of his people was through the use of a forbidden fuinjutsu which he had recently developed. The reason that the jutsu was forbidden was that it was a self sacrificing jutsu which called upon the services of the death god, payment for these services was the life essence of the caster. The jutsu itself allowed for the essence of a life to be sealed within an object or another living being. Sealing the Kyuubi into an object was out of the question due to the immense nature of the bijuu; the only viable option was to seal the beast within a living being, specifically a newborn child whose chakra network could adapt and grow to accommodate its burden.

Minato knew that as Hokage this would be his last act; being the noble person that he was, he knew that he couldn't ask another parent to sacrifice their child and so the fate of his own child was sealed, all for the welfare of the village.

Minato briefly visited his clan compound, which was modest compared to some of the other clans within the village. He walked around the garden for one last time before he activated a security seal; this would ensure that anyone not blood related would be unable to enter. Minato's last moments before he left for the front was to be spent with his wife Kushina and their newly named son Naruto.

"Forgive me my hime, for what is to come" he spoke softly, yet solemnly. His heart sank as he took in the tears streaming down the face of his wife as she lay in the confines of her hospital bed.

"Isn't there any other way" she pleaded the desperation tainting her every word.

Minato looked at his wife and child his own tears fighting seeking their release.

"I wish there were; but I must fulfil my duty as both Hokage and a father" he paused as he walked over to Naruto's crib and gently stroked his sleeping form.

"To protect my precious people" he finished.

He walked across to Kushina and they embraced for what would be their final time on this mortal plane. Kushina's sobbing became uncontrollable; she could feel her heart breaking, she held him tightly not wanting this moment to end. Minato and Kushina were both burning this moment deep within their memories never to be forgotten. Minato himself could not help but shed a tear, this moment in itself served to steel his resolve; he believed that his sacrifice would ensure that his loved ones would have a future. After what felt like an eternity the embrace was broken and Minato lifted a sleeping Naruto from his crib leaving a sobbing Kushina. The father and son left for the battlefield.

The twelve whirlpool anbu approached Kohona from the south; visible to the north of Kohona was the almighty Kyuubi. The anbu split into three units and separated to go and fulfil their objectives; two of the teams headed into the village in search of the mother and child, whilst the third held back as a support team.

Inside the village one of the groups moved silently from shadow to shadow their chakra suppressed heading towards the Namikaze residence in the hope that this part of the mission would be simple. The group reached the compound but found that they couldn't enter the compound due to an invisible barrier; they could only observe, after a few moments of searching for chakra signatures in the immediate area they realised that the residence was empty.

The other group meanwhile headed towards the hospital and proceeded to search looking through the windows in search of Kushina and her child. After what felt like an age searching they eventually found Kushina's room. The anbu entered the room silently; a shark masked anbu stepped forwards and bowed to Kushina.

"Uzumaki-sama we have come to escort you and your son to safety as requested by your father"

"No I can't leave Minato has taken Naruto to the battlefield, he's going to seal the Kyuubi within him" with that the tears returned, her words caused the anbu present to stiffen and not a moment later all of them except one disappeared.

In the minds of the whirlpool anbu the mission had now gone tits up; the newly born heir to the Uzumaki clan revered in whirlpool was on the same battlefield. The anbu sped to the battlefield only to witness the Yondaime stood with his child in his arms on the head of Gambunta confronting the Kyuubi. He placed his son before his feet and began to flash through a series of seals. As Minato finished the seals the Kyuubi appeared as if it was being held in place, it was struggling to get free but to no avail. Suddenly there was a blinding light and an unearthly roar as the Kyuubi appeared to be in a great deal of pain, as it began to shrink. The light began to change colour flickering through various shades of orange and red intensifying with each passing moment, whilst the Kyuubi continue to shrink. At the centre of the light was what appeared to be a swirling mass of energy which was condensing with each passing moment. It appeared to be sentient as it seemed to be attempting to escape it confines.

The beauty of the scene betrayed the gravity of the situation which was unfolding before those present. The light show abruptly ended and all that remained was the mass of energy; which began to stretch and swirl through the air as if it was dancing to a melody. It suddenly rose high into the air and upon reaching an invisible apex began its descent in an almost corkscrew like manner condensing as it fell, it appeared from a distance as if it had embedded itself within the earth itself. In reality the swirling mass of energy impacted on to the abdomen of the child and disappeared within; upon the last portion of the energy disappearing into the child, kanji golden in appearance glowing in an almost ethereal way appeared on the stomach of the child. The kanji flashed brightly and faded from sight; Minato looked down at his son for the final time, a tear burning its way down his cheek, his thoughts filled with regret, at the future moments that he would never share with his family. He took solace in that his wife and child would have a future; the last piece of Minato's life essence disappeared and with that Gambunta returned to the summon plane, with that both Minato and Naruto fell to the ground.

Minato's body lay lifeless on the ground; Naruto was more fortunate, in all the confusion he was caught by one of the whirlpool anbu and was shunshined to the relative safety of the team situated to the south of the village.

The Kohona shinobi which were still able to move made their way to the spot where Minato lay lifeless, his broken body prone on his back. His lifeless body was picked up and carried by his former student Kakashi and was escorted back to the village in a manner fit for royalty, at the time no one noticed the absence of the child who would shortly be the centre of attention.

What was left of the council was in an uproar; Minato had informed them of the consequences of his final act, hatred and resentment was heavy in the atmosphere. Hatred was directed towards the Kyuubi and resentment towards the Yondaime who was idolised by the population; none felt this resentment more than Danzo and Fugaku who had both lost a substantial amount of their power and influence since Minato had become Hokage. The current situation gave these individuals a number of options in terms of petty revenge.

All present within the chamber knew that Minato's child should have been found; consequently the lack of Naruto's presence was causing a number of problems especially for the Sandaime, who to maintain stability within the village retook the position.

"We must find the child immediately" stated Shibi.

The council was full of agreement on this point, which was a relief to Kushina who had been brought into the session; unfortunately her relief was short lived as a number of the civilian portion of the population began to call for the anbu to be sent after the child so that he could be executed. In their minds this would forever remove Kyuubi as threat. This idea began to gain support due to the raw emotions which were still in play from earlier events.

The balance of power in the argument shifted when Fugaku also called for the death of the child; this disgusted a number of the clans, but didn't really surprise them. As the Uchiha had been trying to build and consolidate their power for a number of years.

Kushina couldn't believe that her heart could sink any further, but this situation was showing her how wrong she had been. She felt as if her husband's sacrifice was for nothing, the village he loved and died for, wanted to murder his son.

The room fell silent when a number of intense killer intents flooded the room; some of the civilian portion even wet themselves from the intensity. The cause of this burst came from the major clans.

"No one shall execute the son of the Yondaime" sounded the regal voice of Hiashi.

"He shall be protected by the Hyuuga"

Both Danzo and Fugaku were incensed by this; but both decided that they would deal with the matter covertly.

"And the Inuzuka" growled Tsume.

"As well as the Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka" stated Shiki in an almost lazy tone, though admittedly laced with a little killer intent.

The pledges of support caused those who were calling for the death of Naruto to begin to doubt themselves; however this was short lived.

"The demon child should be killed as soon as possible, just as Uchiha-sama has said" screamed the banshee known as Haruno.

The civilian portion once again found their voices with a renewed vigour and continued to call for the death of Naruto. Kushina could take no more; using what little strength she had, she stormed out of the chamber, her heart well and truly broken along with her faith in the village. Kushina began to walk towards her husband's old office; her vision blurred by the almost constant stream of tears, when she felt a presence, she turned around only to find the shark masked anbu from before.

"Uzumaki-sama your son is safe and well"

Kushina felt a wave of relief surge through her and she embraced the anbu thanking him profusely.

"What is your wish Uzumaki-sama" asked the anbu.

"I regret to say that my son is no longer safe in Kohona and that there may be an attempt on his life" she paused as she looked out of a window surveying the village which was still burning in places and she knew that it was time to leave Kohona.

"I wish for you to take my son immediately back to the village; I will follow as soon as possible, it is for the best if my son is not found by anyone from Kohona"

"As you wish, I shall inform the Godaime of the situation" with that the anbu disappeared into the night.

Meanwhile the situation within the council chamber was still volatile; the Sandaime couldn't believe that this was actually happening; his two students Tsunade and Jiraiya felt a sense of total revulsion with what was transpiring The Haruno banshee was still causing some serious ear trauma; Tsunade had enough, she stormed over and no one noticed until it was too late. Tsunade lashed out and launched the banshee clear across the chamber; she impacted the wall with an almost sickening thud, leaving a visible imprint on the wall. The room fell into an eerie silence with all eyes focused on a twitching Tsunade; the moment broken when Jiraiya walked forwards and joined her.

"I believe that I speak for both myself and Tsunade-hime, when I say that we are ashamed of how far this village has fallen, to call for the death of a hero's son" He paused briefly taking in the looks of various council members trying to gauge what the reaction to his next words would be.

"We are both leaving Kohona; don't expect us to return, we will not serve a village that disrespects the sacrifice of my student and wishes to kill our godson".

The chamber was silent for a moment while his words sunk in; Jiraiya looked sadly towards the Sandaime.

"We will wait for you in your chambers" with that he gently touched the shoulder of Tsunade.

"Let's leave Hime" and with that they both left the council chambers for what could be the last time.

The council was in a state of disarray; in the space of less than twenty four hours the village had lost the Yondaime as well as a significant proportion of the shinobi ranks and now potentially they had lost the last of the loyal sannin. The civilian portion of the council believed that they had been betrayed.

"I call for the arrest of the Sannin for treason" called a couple of the merchants; this was repeated by a number of the civilians, but none of the shinobi.

"Hokage-sama is there nothing you can do to persuade them to reconsider their position" asked Shika, he knew that the loss of the Yondaime and the shinobi in the battle had been a crippling blow; the loss of the two Sannin would leave the village vulnerable for years to come.

"To be honest Shika; I don't know these fools may have caused too much harm, but never the less I will try." He paused taking a puff of his pipe.

"If only for the sake of Minato's sacrifice, so it shall not be in vain" He finished in a sombre tone.

The Sandaime surveyed the room his heart full of remorse and regret at the loss of Minato and the others who had fallen in defence of the village and regret at the foolish actions of the council who were only thinking of themselves and their own personal agendas especially Danzo and Fugaku.

The Sandaime stood up and walked to the centre of the chamber, which then fell silent.

"The anbu shall be sent to look for Minato's son; but no harm shall befall him, like his father he is a hero"

There were shouts of protest until he released his killer intent which caused those protesting to lose their voices.

"Any attacks on Naruto shall be treated as treason and the perpetrators shall be given to Ibiki, with instructions to deal with them with extreme prejudice" This statement pretty much ended the public calls for Naruto's death; privately however it was a different story.

"This session is over; I'm sure we all have pressing issues to attend to" with that the chamber began to empty.

Danzo slowly got to his feet, pain surging once again through his body. It was the demon's fault that his body was disfigured and his wife dead. It was now time to have revenge for all those that fell to the demon; slowly he made his way back to his chamber, where he was met by one of his own personal anbu. He had created this group at the end if the Iwa war, so that in his mind he could keep Kohona safe and strong without being hindered by the morals of the Hokage.

"What are your orders Danzo-sama?"

"The demon is inside a child; you are to find and kill him before the Hokage's anbu retrieve him, use all available units"

"Hai Danzo-sama" with that he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Danzo sat behind his desk and reached for his sake; he felt as if revenge was at hand, as took a sip of his sake and chuckled to himself so the hunt has now begun.

The Sandaime walked into his office and found Kushina, Tsunade and Jiraiya knocking back copious amounts of sake, given the circumstances it was understandable.

"Ah Sensei, would you like to share a farewell drink" slurred Tsunade who was obviously intoxicated.

"A little wouldn't hurt" replied Sarutobi as he took a saucer from Jiraiya and sat down trying to gauge the emotional state of those in the room. He sensed a lot of pain and anguish; he turned to face his students.

"Jiraiya, Tsunade could you please reconsider your decision" he asked in an almost pleading tone.

There was a loud smash as Tsunade threw her sake at the wall, all signs of her intoxication seemed to vanish as she stood up, and fists clenched fury flowing from every pore.

"Reconsider, you're going senile you old man, I'm not staying in this cesspit any longer, all it does is shit on those that care for it"

"All my family have died for this village and now it wants to murder what I have left, over my dead body."

"That won't happen my anbu are searching for him, no harm will come to Naruto" replied Sarutobi trying to diffuse the situation. Tsunade couldn't help but laugh.

"You always were too trusting and naive; the people seek revenge for their losses and for some only Naruto's death will be good enough"

"Minato wished for him to be seen as a hero; and in time I believe that he will be seen as such" replied Sarutobi. Kushina was touched by Tsunade's words and decided to speak.

"My son will not be raised in this village; he will be raised somewhere safe" these words confirmed Jiraiya's suspicions, who knew that Naruto had been taken from the battlefield, he just wasn't sure of who and why.

"Kushina I will come with you to find him and if you allow me, help raise Naruto as Minato was the son that I never had"

Kushina was touched and knew that Jiraiya was sincere and that he also suspected something.

"Jiraiya could you please place a privacy seal on this room, the strongest you know"

Jiraiya didn't question her and began to run his hands through a number of seals and the walls briefly flashed green and hummed slightly.

"I am trusting only you three; this is not to leave this room, is that clear"

The three nodded and agreed although in the case of the Sandaime it was reluctantly.

"Naruto is safe and well, with friends" the Sandaime choked on the smoke he was inhaling.

"What do you mean with friends?" questioned the Sandaime.

"I will not reveal that, as I will not place my son in danger" replied Kushina.

"But it was Minato's wish that he be raised in Kohona, he is his legacy" retorted the Sandaime.

"After what transpired in the council, I do not believe that it is possible at this moment for Naruto to remain safe in Kohona; and it was Minato's wish for Naruto to live, not be assassinated by his own village."

Sarutobi couldn't really argue with that; after all they all witnessed the stupidity of the council and he could tell by Kushina's demeanour that she would not be swayed.

"So how do you suggest we deal with this situation?"

"Recall the anbu and you can tell the council that Naruto is no longer the village's problem"

"That doesn't really clear things up" replied Sarutobi.

"Not my problem, since I'm leaving the village after Minato's funeral"

"What about the compound and Naruto's inheritance?" asked Sarutobi.

"The compound is protected by Minato's strongest seals; Naruto can retrieve his inheritance as and when he is ready."

Sarutobi took a deep breath on his pipe and walked towards Kushina regret etched into his features.

"I wish the circumstances were different Kushina"

"As do I jiji; but what's done is done. I don't know if I'll ever return to the village" she paused.

"Now if you don't mind I need some time alone" with that she embraced each of them promising to meet Tsunade and Jiraiya later and then she left to return to the compound to spend some time alone with her memories.

The room was now silent, former teacher and students sat sipping sake in an uncomfortable silence. Tsunade felt at this moment as if she didn't belong in this time and especially this place.

"I'll see you at the memorial" with that she left the two alone. The Sandaime took a puff on his pipe and slowly exhaled.

"The village really fucked it up this time old man"

"Fear and politics are never good bedfellow; fear brings out the worst in all of us" retorted the Sandaime"

"The true face of human nature"

"Politics is a dirty business and recent events have opened opportunities for a number of people to gain and consolidate power. Naruto's death would act as a rallying call for these people"

"Minato was a lot like you; he trusted the village and that it would do the right thing, but you know that Kushina's right"

"Although it saddens me; Yes she is, all I can hope is that one day both she and Naruto forgive the village, if not at least understand"

"Well time is a fickle mistress, old man"

"So true." Sarutobi replied.

"Just so you know; I'll be travelling with Kushina and I have a feeling so will Tsunade."

"I understand your reasoning; but Kohona needs the information which your network provides."

"I'll send updates old man; but only because of you and don't expect me to return to this village until it repents for its actions."

"I understand that's all I can really ask."

"Well I've got business to attend to; I'll be seeing you later old man" with that the Sandaime was left alone to ponder the predicament which those who craved power on the council had created.

Four units of anbu know as the 'Ne' division sent by Danzo had picked up a faint trail heading south of Kohona. The trail had been well hidden which left the pursuers to believe that their quarry couldn't be too far ahead; judging by the look of the trail they believed that they were pursuing a group of no more than four. What the 'Ne' failed to notice was that there were another two trails running parallel to the first.

Danzo's anbu believing that they were the superior force in this instance in terms of both skill and numbers; forced more chakra into their limbs in their effort to catch and eradicate their prey.

The Whirlpool anbu were aware of their pursuer's due to the number of traps which had been set off; that and they weren't exactly masking their chakra. They knew from what Kushina had told them that this force had most likely been sent to kill the child that they were currently taking back to the village. The child's survival was a priority; so combat was to be avoided if possible, but at the rate that they were gaining it seemed that conflict was unavoidable.

A number of hours had past and the distance between the two groups had narrowed considerably, the Whirlpool shinobi knew that within the hour that they would be caught and began to look for a favourable spot to engage the pursuing force.

Well I thought I'd leave it at that point...Next time the battle, Minato's memorial and Kushina's and the Sannin's departure from Kohona...

Don't forget to review preferably constructive but I'll take what I get until next time..

A.N For those of you who have read my other stories they will be updated shortly probably around the time the second chapter of Resonance is posted.


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